He survived Iraq. His assumptions didn't

Ex-Marine's film has tough message on U.S. war record

Fitchburg native and former U.S. Marine Ross Caputi during his time deployed in Iraq. "The people who were fighting against us weren't terrorists," he says. COURTESY PHOTO

Sentinel and Enterprise staff photos can be ordered by visiting our Smugmug site.

FITCHBURG -- When Ross Caputi was deployed to Iraq in 2004, he said he had a very simplistic view of the U.S. military's role in the war-torn country.

Caputi, 29, a Fitchburg native now living in Lunenburg, joined the Marine Corps in 2003 shortly after graduating from Leominster High School, and he said his eyes were soon opened to the atrocities being committed against the Iraqi people.

His experiences led to the creation of The Justice for Fallujah Project, to inform the public of the "ongoing human rights catastrophe" in Iraq, as well as a documentary, "Fear Not the Path of Truth: A Veteran's Journey after Fallujah," screened locally for the first time at Fitchburg State University on Wednesday.

A shot from Fitchburg native and former U.S. Marine Ross Caputi's documentary, "Fear Not the Path of Truth: A Veteran's Journey after Fallujah," an investigation into human-rights atrocities and the legacy of U.S. foreign policy in Iraq. Here, he speaks with MIT Professor Emeritus Noam Chomsky. COURTESY PHOTO

Sentinel and Enterprise staff photos can be ordered by visiting our Smugmug site.

"I kind of had a 'good guys, bad guys' view of the world. We were obviously the good guys," he said. "And I just never asked myself the question of whether or not we had a right to go into other people's countries and decide for them what was the correct form of government they should be living under and to rebuild their country without their participation -- and my experience in Iraq showed me all those assumptions were not right."

Caputi said there were many occasions in his June 2004 through January 2005 Iraq tour that built to his realization that the U.S. wasn't the "good guy," but it was solidified during the second siege of Fallujah, known as Operation Phantom Fury, and what he called the bloodiest operation of the entire U.

Advertisement

S. occupation of Iraq.

He said he and his fellow Marines were told they were saving Fallujah from terrorists who had taken control of the city, and that they would take it back and return control to the people.

"In fact, it was really just the opposite," Caputi said. "The people who were fighting against us weren't terrorists, they were locals who objected us laying siege to their city and they were trying to defend their city."

Indiscriminate bombing leveled about two-thirds of the city -- which is about the size of Boston -- killing about 3,000 civilians and creating about 200,000 refugees, he said.

"And we were treated as heroes for this operation," Caputi said. "The scale of that lie was so mind-blowing and frustrating that I felt like I had to try to do something."

After leaving the Marines a year early through an administrative separation, Caputi founded The Justice for Fallujah Project, which is connected to the nonprofit Islah, an organization that is seeking reparations for Iraqis.

The use of experimental weapons in Fallujah polluted the environment with uranium, Caputi said, leading to about 14 percent of children born with life-altering birth defects -- from spinal cord deformities to missing or additional limbs and worse -- and causing a host of other health problems for residents.

But Caputi's group can't currently get into Iraq to give Fallujah the assistance it needs, so it is trying to put pressure on the government to stop the flow of weapons into the country.

"Right now, the government that we put in place in Iraq is laying siege to Fallujah again," he said. "We're not going to be able to bring any assistance until this siege is over."

Caputi is hoping his documentary will begin to spread the word, and that people will begin to organize to help change the policies that have led to the atrocities in Fallujah, so that nothing like what has happened there will happen again.

Welcome to your discussion forum: Sign in with a Disqus account or your social networking account for your comment to be posted immediately, provided it meets the guidelines. (READ HOW.)
Comments made here are the sole responsibility of the person posting them; these comments do not reflect the opinion of The Sentinel and Enterprise. So keep it civil.